1. Technical Field
The invention relates to a communications architecture. More particularly, the invention relates to services provided in connection with a proxy-based communications architecture.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In today's world, personal computers, cell phones, smart phones, even televisions, and the like, provide services and content beyond the original purposes of these devices. For example, a personal computer doesn't simply compute, but opens browsers to remotes web sites for users to browse. As another example, as well as talking on cell phones, users can send Short Message Service (SMS) messages across mobile networks or browse the Internet. It is not uncommon for a single user to own or have access to a variety of such devices. However, when the single user desires to use any of the devices, the single user is required to become familiar with the particular platforms and run-time applications associated with each of the devices. Such requirement is a direct result of the limitations of the hardware and software of each of the devices. For example, if a user desires to open an address book from his or her PC, the user must be familiar with the particular address book application on the PC. If the user desires to open an address book on his or her smart phone, the user must be familiar with the particular address book application on the smart phone, that is most likely different from the address book application on the user's PC. Further, if the user needs to receive a message from a family member, the family member has to guess the location of the user and/or which device the user is likely to use. For example, suppose the user is a parent and the family member is the parent's child. Suppose further that at some later point in time, the child will call the parent to request that the parent pick him or her up from a friend's house. As in a typical family, the child does not know the exact location of the parent. The parent may be at home, may be outside gardening, or may even be grocery shopping. Typically, then, the child has to guess the location of the parent and then guess to which device the parent is likely to have access. For example, the child may send an SMS message to the parent's cell phone. Thus, the parent may or may not view the message in a timely manner depending on whether the parent has access to his or her cell phone at that time. The parent may have gone upstairs to a different part of the house to read his or her email on a PC and left his or her cell phone in the kitchen downstairs. Thus, the parent, reading emails on the PC, will not receive the message that requests pick up from the child in a timely manner, that is, until the parent learns that a message has been sent to his or her cell phone. Thus, it is a disadvantage to both the parent and child that the parent, sitting at the PC, was not able to receive some type of notification on the PC, as well as the cell phone, that his or her child needs to be picked up. It would be advantageous for a message sender to send a single message from one device and have that message be delivered to many devices, regardless of the different types of platforms of the devices and regardless of the different networks over which the content of the message needs to be sent. It further would be advantageous for the receiver of the message to get notification of the message at any of his or her devices and in a view that is independent of the particular type of device at which the receiver views the message, that is, in a unified view across the different types of devices.